What has always baffled me is why so many Germans supported Adolf Hitler who preached German nationalism, yet he was not a German by birth. He was an Austrian who only became a German citizen in 1932 less than a year before he came to power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Why was it not an issue for Germans?
shareThey liked his Aussie twang. Sad but true.
shareInteresting......
shareI read somewhere that he was a Westie.
share The truth is...Germany was prime for an authority figure. They were both hurt and humiliated by WW1 war reparations at Versailles. They felt parts of Germany were broken off and given to Poland (who they hate), Austria, the Cze. Republic and they wanted it returned. Even the British who had huge losses during ww1 thought the Germans were treated too harshly.
So Hitler tried to get the territory back without going into battle and it worked except for Poland. The only country Hitler really wanted to fight was to his east, Russia (who he despised).
UK and France had pledged to help Poland if they were attacked. A big mistake.
How the hell was it a "big mistake"? No-one in the West should tolerate a far-right fascistic regime swallowing up territory all around them, it was inevitable that war would happen anyway, the better it happened when it did and not later.
That wasn't the mistake. Agreeing to the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia was the mistake. Appeasement. The leaders of Britain and France sought to buy peace for themselves by throwing a weaker nation to the wolves. Churchill put it very succinctly. “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war."
By giving up Czechoslovakia to try and appease Hitler, the leaders of Britain and France convinced Hitler that they were weak and unwilling to fight, so he felt safe in attacking Poland. Those same British and French leaders, when Hitler attacked Poland, finally saw they couldn't placate the implacable, and did what they should have done earlier, and said "cross this line, and it means war." Hitler crossed it, and so it was war.
If they had stood firm earlier, if they had not agreed to sacrifice Czechoslovakia, it is actually possible they could have prevented a war. Hitler's position was not so secure that he might not have been toppled from power if he had been seen to have severely misjudged Allied willingness to fight. But sadly, in the worst of all possible turn of events, he only half misjudged it. The Allies weren't totally unwilling to fight, but they were unwilling to fight until Hitler had gone too far. If they had been willing to fight before that, the war could have been prevented, or at worst concluded in a relatively short time, possibly could have been localized, and would have only seen thousands dead, instead of tens of millions.
And if Britain and France had responded forcefully when Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland in 1936, when the Nazi party's hold on power was still not unshakeable, it's possible the war could have been prevented altogether. Indeed, there were a few in Germany who reacted to the Allies' weak response with despair, because they understood that if Britain and France had shown strength, Hitler might have lost his grip on power. They saw how the Allies lost an opportunity to stop Hitler at the outset.
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yer right its so murky hitlers citizenship coming to power etc. so many things that dont make sense. hitler only really allowed to run from 32, soon comes to power in year 33 a popular number for the controllers
how did he avoid execution after a beer hall putsch business years before and why was such threats to national security allowed to share jail cells. gets out of jail and in no time is organizing militias.
hitler was also hired in early 30s to handle job of quelling the rising nazi threat haha
"how did he avoid execution after a beer hall putsch"
As I understand it from what I've seen, the prosecutors actually mostly AGREED with Hitler. After all, they were German, and of course, aggrieved at the way their country had been treated (re: the OP) and so, in Hitler, they saw a means of getting their own back on Versailles, preferably one they could control. So they treated him leniently.
thats to much fantasy thinking for a guy and party that they say was considered massive threat to national security. when do judges ever do whats right for country and people?
if they werent part of the club , top nazis would have been executed
Austria was an own empire beside germany. But when germany was reformed, it was also hoped by german austrians (basically todays austria border) to build one huge empire. But it didnt happen due to differences of the two emperors. This was also the reason the german emperor was not the emperor of germany, which pissed of the first German emperor.
Anyway, the bound between the germans and german austrians were strong. So it was never a big thing, just a minor political issue. Thats why no one had problems. Even the annex of austria in 38 was just done without big issues. The people mostly were happy to be part of a united germany